[open] If Santa Claus isn't coming to town, we have to go and find him.

[theearth]

Attention! By popular vote the Big Finale has been postponed!

Who: Everyone!
What: As announced, the NSCG+friends have been called to Lapland! There, they travel North, hunt down some kidnappers and finally discover...
When: 13th-19th 24th of January after Toushiro and Dani's post.
Where: Lapland
Warnings: Abduction of children, scary Santa Clauses, violence, one instance of (not graphically described) brutally murdered reindeer



On the David Graibiger and Monika Hallbach will greet the numbered in Rovaniemi and together they will all get on a bus northwards. Up there, they will all room in a few cabins, each with two four-person-bedrooms; food will be provided and the beds are made, but they'll have to cook for themselves. TV is available in the living room/kitchen of each cabin, but the internet connection sucks. Up there, they will be taught how to drive a car in the snow, how to drive a snowmobile, how to shoot a rifle if they have no combat power (for self defense). They will then be tasked with one of the following things:

1. People with combat powers: Go out there and hunt down the kidnappers! If those people seek for long enough, they will find:
- Haggard, wild looking old men with unkempt beards who are either dressed in red santa's clothes or have been jammed into green fur suits, their faces painted green with what appears to be markers. These men are feral: They will run away but, if attacked, use hands and teeth to fight, and not be afraid of injuring a person in any way. They are superhumanly strong, but seem to be incapable of human speech - they can seemingly neither speak nor understand what is said.
If a child of up to 14 years is with the group, they are much more likely to find one of these as the beings are seeking out children. They will try to get their hands on and run away with the child in question.

2. People without combat powers: They will be sent on various trips to look at sightings, talk to people, etc. These include, but are not limited to:
- Talk to the parents of abandoned children. There isn't much information to be had from the conversations themselves, but keen numbered will realized that there are vermini in the bedrooms of the vanished children...
- Checking out a flock of reindeer that was bitten to death - yet whatever killed them doesn't seem to have eaten anything. Disturbingly enough, the brave researcher will realize that these were human teeth that killed them...
- Checking out an abandoned excavation site. The only description is that the mad guy who just recently started it (no, nobody knows who he was or why he did it or how he got the permission) hasn't be seen in almost a month now and the workers left for Christmas and didn't return after it. The place is full of vermini, but vermedi can also be found. What they will find too is a letter in Russian, written by the two last guards of the place, in which they resign from their spot, quoting that none of their tasks, which they describe as "watching lunatics and guarding the rise of a monster", was in the job description and that they just aren't paid enough. If someone wants to try, these guards can be tracked down, just comment to the Lapland plot post and ask for more information.

3. Everyone:
- Captured not!santas and not!grinches, after having been tied up or locked up or something similar, need to be watched. And questioned, but really, they will only be violent and still not say a thing or show intelligence above a scared badger. The only way to get any information out of them will be to set one free and hope that they lead the numbered to the place that they live in, but through trial and error one who attempts that will realize that they'll only return there once their mission of kidnapping a child is accomplished.

4 And last but not least
- Much more MUNDANE and nothing that they will strictly be tasked with but: Cooking! Fighting over the shower, throwing things at the snoring person in the next bed. Learning how to shoot, learning driving, petting reindeer, fun in the snow, do you want to build a snowman... go wild!


Please start your own threads and head over to the Lapland plot post if you have questions, need more information on something, want an NPC, want more tasks, etc.

Comments

C

[scarlet_devil]

[Emi is of course there too, not just watching for these child snatching freaks but making sure Dani stays close and in her sight.

She had told her to stay close, and it seemed like Dani was at least obeying her at first.]

Dani, stay close!

I'm guessing this is sometime after the Kid's meeting?

[prismaticdestruction]

Yes Emi!

[Of course she's close, but probably not as close as she's supposed to be. Besides, She's fairly good bait for what they are after and she knows it.}

Yep.

[scarlet_devil]

[She's getting the feeling that Dani must be up to something now, she was getting pretty sure about it.

So far, no sign of the creepy childnappers...]

[prismaticdestruction]

[Oh yeah, She's up to something since she's starting to wander further and further away and lagging a bit at searching about.

She's also looking around more often after stopping for any length of time.]

[scarlet_devil]

[And Emi was getting increasingly annoyed now. Eventually she started to try and stop a moment and try to chase after Dani and drag her back to the main group before she gets snatched away.]

It told you to stay close!

[prismaticdestruction]

I am staying close!

[Dani's never trying to run away from her cousin when she's retrieved although she is pouting and her wings droop.]

It's not that far Emi, Honest!

[scarlet_devil]

What are you trying to do?

[This girl, honestly. Of all the times to start being a pest...]

[prismaticdestruction]

I'm searching like we are supposed to be.

[...And not being completely honest. She's also playing bait and going through with her own plan.]

I mean, we haven't found anything yet.

[scarlet_devil]

[She'll need to distract Emi to be able to go through with her plan. Emi, of course, won't be happy...]

[icy_heavens]

[He'd talked about this with Dani earlier. Really, it's the best plan. These things are after kids, so what better way to find where they're hiding them than getting caught themselves? It wasn't a plan to be shared with the elder members of the group, though; chances are high they would have rejected it out of hand. Protectiveness of children, and all, even if it's annoying.

[Honestly, both he and Dani are capable of kicking serious ass. How much real danger would they actually be in?

[He keeps going afield himself. It's not weird behaviour for him if you know him. He always has that confident, independent air about him. Probably doesn't make Emi any more at ease, though. Anyway, the point is that the plan requires both of them to be caught, and that's not happening so long as Emi is keeping a close eye on Dani.

[He's out of sight when he does it, whispers the spell, modulates its strength. When he lets it free, what can be perceived from a distance is a bright red flash, and the feeling of the ground shaking strongly underfoot.

[That should get the attention of more than one thing out here.]

[scarlet_devil]

[Maybe some of the more level headed members would have been okay with it, but Emi certainly wouldn't after that night where she got killed, and Dani was nearly killed.

She knows he's a tough kid, so was Dani, but she was worried they'd be overwhelmed. Who knows how many of these freaks or out there? She doubted that there was only two...]

[That explosion, whatever it was, is the distraction the kids needed. Everyone else, including Emi, were taken by surprise by it...]

Dracu! What was that!?

[prismaticdestruction]

[It was true, but they were aware of what they were risking. In all honesty, if they wanted to escape after a while, they probably could. Either way, the decision was made without any of the members of the group knowing.

Dani jumps herself at the explosion but is quick to move out of sight. Out of sight and into the danger, moving quickly away from the group since her wings would likely give her away. She's looking to hopefully meet back up with Toushirou before the abductors catch either one of them.]

dun dun duuuuun

[savethenpcs]

[In the distance, three santa clauses and a grinch raise their heads and sniff the air.

And then they start running into the direction from which the distinct sensation of child is approaching.]

Re: dun dun duuuuun

[icy_heavens]

[The rumbles of the explosion, the shifts of ice that it had caused, gradually fade. Once they do, he can hear something coming. But he can't quite tell from what direction or how many there might be.

[His hand twitches up toward his blade, but he stops himself. No. He's trying to get caught, here. No having his weapon ready, even if he'd much rather do so. He has to make sure these things can actually grab him.

[So he settles for sharply scanning the area, checking all directions. His first hope is to spot Dani; this should be enough to give her time to get away from her cousin and he can make sure they get taken in together. Whether she's the first one to get here remains to be seen.]

[savethenpcs]

[The santas and the grinch change direction towards Toushiro - then back towards Dani - then back (this repeats a few times) which slows them down for a good long moment before they manage to realize that splitting up might be a better idea. So now two are headed towards Dani, among them the grinch, and the two others towards Toushiro.]

My bad!

[prismaticdestruction]

[Of course, Dani is oblivious to the fact that the idea of them getting caught toghter might be going out the window. She's trying her hardest to both get far enough away to escape her cousin and to get to Toushirou before anything could find them.

She's starting to move towards him and calling out softly, just to keep where they are still somewhat a secret.]

Toushirou..? Where are you..?

[icy_heavens]

[This would be a lot easier if they'd thought they could have told the adults about this plan. But no, they have to be careful of even their own people hearing them and intervening.

[He thinks he might be catching Dani's voice on the wind, but he's not a hundred percent sure. Not daring to call out in return -- really not unusual considering his habit of just popping up behind people -- he heads in the direction he thinks its coming from. All the while reminding himself over and over again to keep the blade sheathed. He has a fighter's instincts; this whole "let yourself be taken" thing goes against all of his natural inclinations.]

[savethenpcs]

[The pair that is on the way to Toushirou has almost reached him now - he can see them storm over the next hill. They run at a surprising speed, not superhuman but definitely on the upper limit of human possibilities.

Neither of them reacts to the small voice in the distance, but when they see the boy, they take up a bit of speed, splitting up to now run with a few metres between them to grab him from both sides.]

[prismaticdestruction]

[Even though this plan made sense and she even voiced it...Dani was actually a bit scared at this point. There was too much they didn't think of at this point..Nothing that could be done now though..

Even Dani needed to remember not to fight back or use her clones. But for this, She'll stand up and start moving faster. It's a bit more desperate as she wants to meet up like they were supposed to..but something tells her that's not going to happen...]

[savethenpcs]

[The pair that is headed for Dani is speeding up when its target does, not at all minding the other people in the distance. They are now bursting out of a small forest to her left hand, and heading directly towards her.]

[icy_heavens]

[Anything moving within human limits, even at the top-tier of them, will not give Toushirou the impression that they're storming toward him. Human limits are slow. It would be so easy to avoid this if that's what he were trying to do.

[But he at least wants Dani in sight first. So he'll launch into a couple of of shunpo, but slower ones that cover less distance. He'll be a blur, but he can be seen, followed.

[Come and get him, slowpokes. Don't worry; he'll let you in the end.]

[prismaticdestruction]

[The fact that she had been found first by the ones that were to finish the plan? Startled her more then anything and a short scream escaped her. It was to make things feel more real...even thought it was a truthful sound.

But she had to meet up before they caught her..If not, who knew what was going to happen! She speeds up a bit more, tucking her wings against her back for now. Yes the group probably heard her but..It was a risk that needed to be taken.]

[savethenpcs]

[Toushirou is too fast, and they won't reach him before he is in sight of Dani... just in time to see the grinch catch up with Dani and jump at her, thin but muscular arms covered with cheap red fabric and hands with long, sharp fingernails grasping for her, the face of an old man with a beard and absolutely crazy eyes suddenly quite close under the santa hat that has been tied to his head with a string under his chin.]

[icy_heavens]

[Unsurprisingly, it's the scream that gets his attention first. Well, crap.]

Dani! [Not nearly so loud as her scream, but enough to let her know he's there. They've at least accomplished the getting-in-sight-of-each-other part of the plan. That much is good. Every instinct screams at him to speed up, to help her, and it's a real fight to keep it down and instead skid to a stop as if in shock.

[Dani can handle herself; he knows that. Just like he knows he can handle himself. This is the plan, no matter how much it goes against his natural inclinations.]

[prismaticdestruction]

[Seeing and hearing Toushirou almost got Dani to smile and relax before remembering she needed to play the part still. So instead of continuing to run, She 'trips' and tries to catch herself, letting herself be caught even though she wants to fight back and run more.

It would be alright..just let them grab you and take you to the others. Then they can be saved and things will be okay...}